College at 55

Husband and I were talking before Suga Booga was born about whether or not she was going to our last gift to humanity. He was determined that she should be, but I was still thinking about our plans for 4. I never really thought we would have children, but I always said that if I had one I would have 4. We currently have 2 and every now and then I hint that we should adopt twins to complete the dream (twin boys to be exact.) Our discussion ended with Husband saying that he thought we should stick with 2 because we only have one more spare bedroom in our house and babies cost money. He promised that he would not get old and resentful about it (I, however, did not make any promises to drop it) and I thought the conversation was over. A day or two passed and we were going through our nightly routine of tooth-brushing and such when all of sudden he blurted out from the shower:

“55!”

All I could do was ask him what he was talking about. He responded that he had done the math and if we were to have our 4 “we” (like we are the same age. HA!) would be 55 when the last one graduated and he did not want to be going to college at 55. I pointed out that my dad was 40 when I was born and therefore 57 when I went to college and he responded with something along the lines of, “That was great for him, but I am not trying to do all of that.”

The problem is that despite his brilliance, my dear Husband is delusional. He is under the impression that once our dear, sweet, glorious children graduate we will somehow be free. I just don’t have the heart to tell him that that is not likely to happen. My siblings and I are grown adults with families and we still rely on our parents for so much. His sister is the same way. Everyone I know dips in the parent pool every now and then. Be honest even if it is just for free room painting, babysitting, driving your car to the shop, Sky Miles points or free food and laundry. Everyone comes home again at some point.

I come from a family that believes that parenting is a life-long job and I hold no expectations that my children will ever truly outgrow a need for me. Don’t get me wrong. I think that parents should raise children who can live on their own and have jobs and fend for themselves, but at no point in my life did I ever think that the safety net that I refer to as Mommy and Daddy would ever not be there.

That is what I am trying to get through to him. The truth is that whether or not we have 4 or stick with 2, our life as a carefree couple is over. We are now and forever more parents, so he might as well invite 2 more ‘cause either way “the party don’t stop and the party don’t quit!”

Can you believe this is my 71^st post? It doesn’t feel like it has been that long, but I saw it when I signed in today so it must be true! Thanks for reading and for your comments and if you see something you like I hope you pass it on.

“Til tomorrow…